The Galápagos Islands get all the attention, said Felix Milns in the Financial Times, but there are many “awesome experiences” to be found in the Ecuadorian mainland. Stretching from the Andes to the Amazon Basin, the country contains 55 volcanoes, 1,600 bird species, and 25,000 different kinds of plants—“10 percent of the world’s total” varieties. Equally astounding are the corruption of public officials and the widespread illiteracy of the rural classes.
Our venture into the interior began on the outskirts of Quito, the capital city, at Chillo-Jijón, an old hacienda that still belongs to the family of the country’s first president, Juan José Flores, who stepped down in 1845. The rosewood furniture and crystal vases in our spacious bedroom exuded a “faded glamour,” and we learned that Britain’s Prince Philip had stayed there in 1962. Early the next morning, we set off for Cotopaxi, “one of the highest active volcanoes in the world” at 19,350 feet. The name means “neck of the moon,” and it is “quite possibly the world’s most perfectly proportioned volcano.” As we hiked along passes where herdsmen have freely roamed for centuries, the only sign of life was “a soaring condor.” Later we descended in a 4x4 to San Agustin de Callo, a colonial hacienda that was formerly home to two ex-presidents. Built on the site of an Incan ruin, it features original Incan walls in the dining room and chapel, and bathrooms with wood-burning stoves.
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